


about time

by mifan



Category: NINE PERCENT (Band), 偶像练习生 | Idol Producer (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff, M/M, Matchmaking, Rating for Mild Language, more realistic college than last time i hope, no beta we die like men, zhangjun is the most oblivious couple ever
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-08 05:01:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26966368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mifan/pseuds/mifan
Summary: It's about time Lin Yanjun and You Zhangjing were together, and Chen Linong was going to see to it. He definitely did not have any ulterior motives.Zhangjun as told through Linong's perspective.—Prompt:#278: in order to keep his overprotective roommates off him, linong makes this grand plan of getting them together.
Relationships: Lin Yanjun/You Zhangjing
Kudos: 19
Collections: Cloud 9 Fic Fest





	about time

Chen Linong is about to order another drink when his phone rings in his pocket, his ringtone barely audible over the noise of the bar. It had buzzed a few times over the last hour, but he’d ignored it in favour of his conversation. Now, however, it’s drawn the attention of his company as well. 

“You should probably take that,” says Zhu Zhengting, motioning towards his pocket with a half-full martini glass. “It’s one of your roommates, isn’t it?” 

Linong sighs through his nose. “Probably.” 

He pulls his cell phone out the pocket of his jeans and, sure enough, the caller ID reads _Lin Yanjun_.

“Hello?” He presses the phone close to his ear to hear better. “What’s up?” 

The voice on the other end of the line is both amused and exasperated. _“Why don’t you tell me?”_

Linong suppresses another sigh. “Yanjun, I’m _nineteen_ . Going on twenty in a few weeks. And it’s _nine-thirty_.” 

_“Okay, Mr I’m-Nineteen, the least you could do is answer our texts. Do you have any idea how worried Zhangjing gets when you’re off the grid?”_

A voice comes from the background: _“Anything can happen these days! So, don’t blame us for being a little paranoid!”_

Linong shakes his head. “I’m just at the bar with some friends. I’ll be home in an hour.” 

_“Fine. If you’re with Zhengting, get him to drive you. Don’t take transit at this time in the night.”_ Lin Yanjun hangs up, before Linong can protest that it’s literally _nine-thirty_ in the evening, hardly the ungodly hour he and You Zhangjing seem to think it is. 

Linong clears his text message notifications—all of which are his roommates asking where he is—and turns his attention back to Zhu Zhengting and Cai Xukun. Both of them are looking at him with mildly entertained expressions. 

Linong just rolls his eyes. “I wish they would stop treating me like I’m still a minor,” he grumbles. “I’ve lived with them for _two_ years now.” 

He first moved in with Lin Yanjun and You Zhangjing in his freshman year of college, after forgetting to pay his residence deposit on time, thus relegating him to looking for accommodations off-campus. At his mother’s insistence because _they’re older boys! They’ll look after you!_ he took up Yanjun and Zhangjing’s roommate search offer.

As it turns out, yes, they do look after him. But ever since Zhangjing needed to pick Linong up after he had one too many drinks at a party at Chengcheng’s place they’ve taken up the habit of attempting incessantly to contact him the moment they realize that he’s still out and it’s nine o’clock. 

“Well, you have to understand,” Zhengting says sympathetically, “sometimes, they can’t help but to be worried. You’re a lot younger than them both. And _I_ should know. I’m six years older than Justin and five older than Quanzhe!” 

Justin Huang is Zhu Zhengting’s newest roommate, and Linong’s friend, whom he met at the entomology club he joined in his sophomore year. Li Quanzhe he isn’t so familiar with, but to hear Zhengting speak of him, Quanzhe is the only one of Zhengting’s three roommates who _isn’t_ constantly neck-deep in shit. 

“To be fair, though, Nong doesn’t constantly get into trouble,” Xukun says, also sympathetically, but towards Linong instead. He takes a sip of his drink. “If you were like Justin or even Zeren, I’d say Zhangjing and Yanjun’s concerns would be justified.” 

“But I’m not.” Linong rests his elbows on the bar counter and braces his chin on his hands. “It’s almost as if they have nothing better to do than to worry about me. They’re like parents with a baby.” 

_They’re like parents…_ If he was in a cartoon, a lightbulb would appear above his head right this instant. He looks at Zhengting and Xukun, his eyes wide. 

“That’s it,” he says, grabbing one of Xukun’s hands with his own. The older boy looks at him, startled, but doesn’t move away and instead waits for him to explain. “You know, I think I have just the way to get them off my case.” 

“What?” All of a sudden, Zhengting is just as excited as he is. “Tell me, Linong!” 

Linong wastes no time. “I should get them together!” 

There’s a brief stunned silence, before Xukun and Zhengting burst out at the same time: 

“I hope you’re kidding.” 

“Chen Linong, you’re a genius!” 

Xukun looks at Zhengting as if he’s out of his mind. “Are you serious, Zhengting? Roommates dating? That’s bound to be a disaster, _I_ should know.” 

Zhengting waves his concern aside dismissively. “Oh, Kunkun, stop judging everything based on you and Ziyi! Just because it didn’t work out between you two doesn’t mean that it won’t work for Zhangjing and Yanjun.” He beams at Linong. “For what it’s worth, I think it’s a _fantastic_ idea. It’s about time those two stopped ogling each other.” 

Linong nods, giddy. A few weeks after he first moved in with Lin Yanjun and You Zhangjing, he’d noticed an interesting dynamic between the two. Clearly, they’d been living together for a while prior to Linong’s arrival, and there was a certain chemistry between them that suggested they were more than friends, more than roommates. It was the way Zhangjing never failed to bring Yanjun his go-to coffee order on his way home every time the latter needed to pull a late night, and the way Yanjun’s dimples never failed to show when he talked about Zhangjing, talked to Zhangjing, because he was just smiling so fucking hard. 

Back then, Linong had been betting against himself when the two of them would finally formalize their relationship. 

Except they never did. 

Nor do they seem to have _any_ intention to. 

Lin Yanjun still reserves his dimples for You Zhangjing. You Zhangjing still brings Lin Yanjun coffee. They laugh the hardest only around each other. They talk late into the night in hushed voices so as to not bother Linong when he’s studying or sleeping and wake up together on the couch, their limbs a tangle. They go out for food together, to concerts together, and while they offer to bring Linong along he always declines because he has never felt more a third wheel in his entire life. And yet. 

“You know, for a while I thought I was missing something,” Linong says, reminiscing. “I wondered if they were actually together and just didn’t tell me and I was just too dumb to tell—but _no_ . It’s been two years, and they’re really _not_ a couple. Can you believe it?” 

Zhengting shook his head in agreement with the sentiment. “They’ve been all close since our freshman year, and _that_ was a long time ago.” He paused. “That said, I think I have something you could try to start.” 

Linong grins. He knew he could count on Zhengting. “Great, what is it?”

Zhengting reaches into the pocket of his jacket and pulls out a pair of tickets. “We have a show next Friday,” he says, and slides the tickets over the counter to Linong. They read _Dachang Dance Club_ —Zhengting is a member. “Give these to them and tell them to come together. Show their friend a little support.” 

Xukun leans over Zhengting’s shoulder and eyes the tickets. “I wanted to go, ‘Ting!” he whines. “Are you seriously going to make me buy tickets?” 

Zhengting flicks Xukun on the forehead, causing him to lean back with the slightest traces of a scowl. “You come every time,” he says. “It’s not going to hurt you to miss _one_ for the sake of our good friends Zhangjing and Yanjun.” 

“It’s not going to work,” Xukun complains. “You _don’t_ want to date your roommate.” 

Linong shrugs, tucking the tickets into the back pocket of his jeans. “You _did_.” 

When Linong gets back to the apartment (thanks to Zhengting), he offers the tickets up to placate a slightly irritated Zhangjing and a somewhat less bothered Yanjun. 

“That’s nice of Zhengting,” Zhangjing says, taking the strips of paper from him. “Do you want to come too, Linong? I’ll get you a ticket.” 

“No, that’s alright,” Linong denies his offer quickly, then lies, “I already made plans with Justin.” 

Zhangjing accepts his plans without question, and Linong, more nervous than usual, only lets out a breath after he texts Justin and asks him to go to the park on the same night. Justin, all too eager to get out of showing up to Zhengting’s show, agrees heartily. 

* * *

A week later, Zhangjing and Yanjun leave the apartment together an hour before Zhengting’s show is slated to start. Linong watches them leave, as if they are about to depart on a journey that will change all of their fates. Oddly enough, Linong doesn’t think that it’s really an inaccurate way to describe it. 

The two make an unorthodox but attractive pair. You Zhangjing has an air of preternatural charm about him, and is all tender smiles and crinkled eyes. He is capable of brightening any room he enters near instantly. Lin Yanjun is the opposite; at first glance, he is utterly unapproachable, intimidating angles and dark, too-keen eyes. Together, though, Zhangjing softens Yanjun’s edges, and Yanjun adds a little _something_ to Zhangjing’s energy. 

_They’re fucking_ perfect _,_ Linong thinks, frustrated. How is it that being together has never crossed their minds? Or has it, and neither of them have ever acted on it? Do they need a push, or is something actively keeping them from pursuing the possibility?

His phone buzzes on the kitchen counter. Linong crosses over to it and checks the notification. It’s from Justin. 

**JUSTIN HUANG:** _i’m downstairs and_  
 **JUSTIN HUANG:** _just saw zhangjing and yanjun leave together :0_ _  
_ **JUSTIN HUANG:** _are they on a date :0_

Linong sighs and types _I’m coming_. He swipes his keys off the counter and sets out to meet Justin. 

The other boy is waiting for him on one of the benches just outside the apartment building, scrolling through his phone. His battered skateboard is propped up next to him. Linong walks up to him and taps him on the shoulder, startling him slightly. 

“Hey,” he says. “Wanna talk about Zhangjing and Yanjun?” 

Justin jumps to his feet. “Hell yeah I do.” 

He places the skateboard on the ground and the two of them head down the block, Linong walking and Justin rolling beside him on his skateboard slowly. Justin looks at him expectantly, as if waiting for him to break the news. 

“They’re not dating,” Linong says, with another sigh. “They’re going to Zhengting’s show together.” 

Justin looks at him incredulously. “They like watching him dance?”

Linong shrugs. “Zhengting gave them the tickets. It’s all part of… you know.” 

“I know what?” Justin inclines his head, confused. Then, he met Linong’s gaze, his eyes alight. “This is what they were talking about last week, wasn’t it? I heard Zhengting mention it once to Quanzhe, I think, but I had work all week.” 

“If Zhengting was talking about getting the two of them together, then yes,” Linong confirms. He sees a grin spread across Justin’s face at this. “Isn’t it insane that they aren’t?” 

Justin nods, but then his expression turns thoughtful. “Maybe there’s a reason for it that we don’t know.” He pauses. “After all, they’ve known one another for a lot longer than the rest of us have known them.” 

Linong kicks a rock off the path. They’re almost at the park. “Maybe,” he agrees, but he doesn’t really _want_ to. It just seems like the… obvious decision. Who else but one another? Besides, it would get them off _his_ case, he still believes… even if that belief is a bit selfish. “But don’t you think it’s for the greater good?” 

Justin steps on the back end of his skateboard with his heel, scraping himself to a stop. He picks up the board and says, “Normally, I’d think this kind of stuff is hilarious, but with Yanjun and Zhangjing, well. I haven’t known them for very long, but I’ve always gotten the feeling that they do things at their own pace. They’re so comfortable with each other that maybe it really _has_ never occurred to them.” 

Linong hadn’t really expected Justin to be the voice of reason, but he has to admit that the younger boy has a good point. One of the first things anyone notices about Lin Yanjun and You Zhangjing is just how close they appear to be. How close they _are_. They’re almost perfectly in touch with the other’s moods and preferences, despite being completely different people. 

They are the reason Linong believes in the concept of _soulmates_.

“Would it be wrong to try and get them together, then?” he asks pensively. 

Justin looks at him seriously for a second, then raises his eyebrows, his lips curling into a grin. “Whenever did I say that?” 

* * *

**JUSTIN HUANG:** _any news?_

 **ZHU ZHENGTING:** _!!!!_

_Seen by CAI XUKUN_

Justin hadn’t wasted any time after their park excursion to make a group chat. Linong sighs and taps out a quick response:

 **CHEN LINONG:** _no_ _  
_ **CHEN LINONG:** _but i’m going to plant the idea of going to the new restaurant in jing’s head_  
 **CHEN LINONG:** _i’ll tell him there’s nasi lemak :]_

He puts his phone face down to focus on his notes, but his mind finds itself wandering to the subject of Lin Yanjun and You Zhangjing again anyway, now that Justin has reminded him. 

It’s been a little over a week since the two went to Zhengting’s show together and returned in high spirits. Linong wants to think that it’s progress, but if he’s honest, that isn’t anything particularly new. Zhangjing and Yanjun _always_ spend time together and they seem so happy doing it—it’s hard to say if doing an activity they hadn't done before is anything definitive. 

Linong pushes his chair back from his desk and gets up, leaving the room to the common area the three of them share. Just in time for him to hear the door unlock, and Zhangjing and Yanjun step into the apartment. 

“Hi, Nongnong!” Zhangjing chirps, kicking off his shoes and walking over to give him a customary hug. Yanjun follows closely behind him, a tray of drinks in hand. “Do you want a coffee?” 

“Sure.” He takes the drink tray from Yanjun and pries one of the cups off. “How was work?” 

Yanjun shrugs. “It was a slow day today.” 

Zhangjing nods and grins with those rabbit-like front teeth of his. “He was so bored he made me three different experimental lattes.” 

This is another thing about these two, Linong thinks—whenever Lin Yanjun is on shift, You Zhangjing does his work at the cafe. Otherwise, they work facing one another at the kitchen table. 

“You’re holding one.” Yanjun tilts his head at the cup Linong is lifting to his mouth. “I want you to guess what I put in it.” 

Slowly, Linong lowers the cup and sets it down on the kitchen counter, much to the amusement of the other two. He gives them a pointed look then clears his throat. 

“I have a proposition,” he says. “You guys know the new Malay restaurant that opened at the end of the block?” 

It seems he had Zhangjing at _restaurant,_ because he nods earnestly. “If you’re proposing that we go, then I’m letting you know right now, I am one-hundred percent in favour of this idea.” 

“How about tomorrow night?” Linong asks. 

Yanjun and Zhangjing share a look. Linong had always been aware of their silent communication, but now that he has a reason to be paying more attention to it, he seems to notice it _all the time._ Making it all the more vital that their plans succeed, he supposes. 

“Sure,” says Yanjun, on behalf of both of them. “Sounds like a plan.” 

“It’s settled then.” Linong takes the dubious drink Yanjun made and turns back in the direction of his room. “I need to study. Good night, guys.” 

“‘Night.” 

Back in the safety of his room, Linong opens the group chat once more. 

**CHEN LINONG:** _ok, i’ve convinced them_  
 **CHEN LINONG:** _we’re going to the restaurant tomorrow. justin, what are you going to do?_

Justin responds almost immediately.

 **JUSTIN HUANG:** _hey_  
 **JUSTIN HUANG:** _i’ll bail you out tomorrow for an emergency entomology club exec meet_  
 **JUSTIN HUANG:** _leaving them on a dinner date <3 _  
**JUSTIN HUANG:** _how’s that?_

Linong stifles a laugh. He doesn’t know what he expected but this is very much a plan Justin would come up with. As to how well it’d work… he has his doubts, but he doesn’t have any better ideas, anyway.

 **ZHU ZHENGTING:** _we have the biggest brains u_u_

 **CAI XUKUN:** _this was all justin’s plan, why are you saying “we”?_

 **ZHU ZHENGTING:** _kun stfu_

As things turn out, Justin’s plan isn’t very effective, either. 

* * *

It’s been a month. Midterms have come and gone, and for a while, none of them had much time nor energy to really think about the Lin Yanjun—You Zhangjing situation. Well, none of them except for Zhengting, who’s long since graduated and _doesn’t_ need to spend all his evenings revising. As a result, he texts the group chat every once in a while with… ideas. 

Do they have merit? Well. 

**ZHU ZHENGTING:** _i have a good one this time_ _  
_ **ZHU ZHENGTING:** _i swear you’ll want to hear it_

 **CAI XUKUN:** _zhengzheng for the last time we probably don’t_

 **JUSTIN HUANG:** _+1_

 **ZHU ZHENGITNG:** _oh come ON_  
 **ZHU ZHENGTING:** _stop being like this </3_  
 **ZHU ZHENGTING:** _i have a good idea_

 **CAI XUKUN:** _then cut to the chase_

 **ZHU ZHENGTING:** _fine </3_  
 **ZHU ZHENGTING:** _can i introduce wenjun to zhangjing_

Linong would have hit the call button if Justin didn’t do it first. 

_“You want to do_ what _now?”_ Justin whisper-shouts into his microphone. Half a second later, his face fills Linong’s phone screen, with what looks like the library behind him. _“Wouldn’t that_ —”

He cuts himself off. 

_“That might… be a better idea than it seems.”_

_“See!”_ Zhengting’s smile is triumphant. _“What do you guys think?”_

Xukun and Linong look at each other through their cameras. It’s easy enough to tell what Xukun thinks of the plan, and Linong… well. 

“Are you sure it’s fair to Wenjun that you do this?” he asks.

Zhengting nods vigorously. _“Oh, yeah. Wenjun’s been looking for a casual date for a while now. He doesn’t want any commitment, not after what happened with Xikan, so it’s a perfect fit.”_

Justin’s eyes light up. _“Wait, ge, what happened with Xikan?”_

Zhengting says something under his breath that sounds to Linong like _my big fucking mouth_. _“I shouldn’t have said that,”_ he tells Justin, but it’s evident that Justin’s first order of business when he gets back to the apartment he shares with Zhengting will be to pester him until he relents.

“Alright,” Linong acquiesces. “I’ll tell Zhangjing you want to introduce someone to him?” 

Zhengting waves a nonchalant hand. _“No need to get your hands dirty, Nongnong,”_ he says cheerfully. _“I’ll tell Zhangjing myself.”_

Linong looks at the four faces on the screen. Zhengting, self-assured. Justin, giddy. Xukun, apprehensive. And himself… well, he’s caught between a smile and a grimace and he really doesn’t know which one is more suited to the occasion. 

* * *

Zhu Zhengting’s idea works. 

It’s only Bi Wenjun and You Zhangjing’s second date, and Chen Linong can already tell it _works_ because Lin Yanjun sits at the kitchen table and sulks. 

“What’s up?” Linong asks him, innocently. 

“Nothing,” says Yanjun. He hits the _Enter_ key on his laptop a little harder than necessary. Linong peers over his shoulder to see an academic paper ridden with typos, judging from the little red lines all over the document. “What’s the matter?” 

“Nothing,” Linong parrots. “You don’t exactly look like you’ve been having a good day.” 

“Twenty-page essays aren’t exactly my idea of fun.” Yanjun’s mouth twists. “Not even if I’ve gone to school for six years for literature.” 

Linong sets his books and papers down on the other end of the table and sits down in the seat Zhangjing normally would have occupied during their study sessions and peers over at Yanjun conspicuously over the top of his open textbook. Lin Yanjun’s grammar is impeccable. Has always been, is always, will always be. And the fact that today, he doesn’t seem to care, is very much telling. 

Yes, Zhengting’s idea is working. Too bad Linong doesn’t really have the courage to ask outright if _Bi Wenjun_ is the real “not my idea of fun.” 

They study in silence for a while. Somewhere along the line, maybe from the frustration of having to do read the same sentence in the textbook over and over again, Linong finds it in him to at least ask Yanjun, “It’s different without Zhangjing here, isn’t it?” 

It takes Yanjun a second to react. “Oh, yeah. But you’re not bad company. Just silent.” 

Linong catches on. “Zhangjing sings, doesn’t he?” 

Yanjun laughs lightly. “Yeah. A bit.”

Seeing as Yanjun doesn’t seem to be in as bad a mood as earlier, Linong gets a little braver. “Doesn’t his boyfriend sing, too? Wenjun? Zhengting introduced them because they’re both part of singing groups, right?” 

To Yanjun’s everlasting credit, nothing about his expression or posture changes, not even under Linong’s watchful gaze. He just leans back in his chair and stretches. 

“Yeah, that’s what I heard,” he says. “I don’t know much about him yet, though. Neither does Zhangjing. It’s only the second date.” 

“Right,” Linong says slowly, “it’s only the second date.” 

* * *

_“You should have asked Yanjun how he felt about Zhangjing dating Wenjun,”_ Zhengting complains over the phone. Linong traces over the diagrams in his notes absently, half of his attention on his schoolwork and the other half on the conversation. It isn’t very efficient, because a few minutes later he still doesn’t remember shit and Zhengting is complaining. 

_“Are you even listening, Chen Linong?”_

“Yeah, yeah, I am, Zhengting.” He sets his pen down and leans back. No use trying to do two things at once anymore since, clearly, he can’t. “But you don’t know how hard that is until you’re in that situation yourself.” 

There’s a pause on the line. _“Fine. But how do you_ think _he feels?”_

Linong thinks back to the conversation he had with Yanjun the day before at the kitchen table, while Zhangjing was out with Wenjun. When Zhangjing had returned later that day, Yanjun had seemed extra interested in their affairs—whether that was out of friendly curiosity or something more, it was difficult to tell. He thinks it’s _evidence,_ certainly, but not necessarily enough.

“Well, I think he definitely doesn’t really like it,” Linong replies, mulling over the events of the day before. “He asked Zhangjing a lot of questions about what Wenjun is like. More than the first time.” 

_“That must because he realizes there might actually be something if they’re willing to give each other a second date,”_ Zhengting says excitedly. _“What did he ask?”_

“I didn’t stay along to hear the whole conversation.” Linong shrugged. “But before Zhangjing came back, Yanjun and I were just hanging out in the kitchen and he didn’t seem to be in a good mood.” 

Zhengting snickers gleefully. _“That has to mean something.”_

“Maybe.” Linong hopes so. He doesn’t really know if what they’re doing is _right_ anymore, because they’d have to be lucky as hell for everything to go according to plan with minimal emotional collateral. 

He doesn’t want either Yanjun or Zhangjing to be unhappy, and in the case that they _do_ end up together, he doesn’t want either of them to feel as if it only happened because of Linong and them. He wants them to feel as happy as they would be had they spontaneously held hands in the dark.

The scheme had seemed all in good fun at first, but Linong is beginning to think that love is a bit more serious than that. 

* * *

Two weeks later, Zhangjing and Wenjun break up and, luckily, it’s a relatively clean affair. Neither of them thought they’re the best choice for the other, not when Zhangjing wants more commitment and Wenjun is looking for less. 

“And I didn’t really feel much of a spark, you know?” Zhangjing says over dinner, when the three of them somehow manage to all be free at the same time to share a meal. “I mean, Wenjun’s a really nice guy, and I think we’re staying friends, but I don’t know if he’s what I’m looking for.” 

Linong casts a discrete look at Yanjun, looking for any signs of relief, happiness, anything like that. Instead, he looks… maybe pensive is the right word. 

He reaches over and pats Zhangjing on the shoulder. “It’s okay, there’s always the next person.”

Zhangjing smiles at him. When Yanjun smiles back, Linong thinks he catches something reflected in his eyes and wonders if, instead of _there’s always the next person,_ Yanjun had meant to say _there’s always me._

* * *

Yanjun didn’t usually visit Linong’s room without a good reason, so when he hears three knocks on the door, he knows it must be something important. 

“Come in,” he says.

The door opens and in steps Lin Yanjun, looking anxious, something Linong doesn’t usually associate with him. He sits down on the edge of Linong’s bed with his elbows braced on his knees and his hands clasped tightly. 

“What is it?” Linong asks. 

Yanjun seems to inhale deeply. “I… I’m going to ask Zhangjing out.” 

A beat. 

_About damn time._

Linong jumps up from his chair, everything Yanjun just said clicking at once. “Really?” 

Yanjun nods slowly. “Yeah. You don’t seem that surprised.” 

“I don’t?” Linong thinks he had reacted with plenty of surprise. 

“No.” A small smile spreads across Yanjun’s lips. “Have I always been this obvious?” 

Linong thinks of all the times Yanjun picked up Zhangjing in the rain, all the times Zhangjing came home with sweets from Yanjun’s favourite bakery and pretended they weren’t for him, all the times the two of them sat opposite each other at the kitchen table like only the other person existed. He thinks of the way they look at each other from across the room like physical space is meaningless and says, without a single doubt in his mind, “Yes, Yanjun. Yes, you have.” 

* * *

Three months from the last time he’d gone out with Zhengting and Xukun, Linong is back at the bar in a scene that seems almost too familiar. He sips at his drink and watches as Xukun scrolls his phone and ignores Zhengting’s whining on purpose. 

His phone vibrates in his back pocket. Linong glances at his watch before getting it; it’s precisely nine o’clock. 

“Are you going to pick up the phone?” Xukun asks, with the ghost of a smirk on his face, because he knows as well as Linong who the callers are.

“Yes,” he grumbles, and does. 

_“When are you going to be done?”_ You Zhangjing’s voice comes from the other end of the line. _“Yanjun and I can come pick you up on our way home.”_

“I can get home myself,” he says. “Thanks, Zhangjing.” 

_“Are you sure? It’s getting late.”_

He sighs, half endeared and the other half exasperated. Now _both_ Xukun and Zhengting are looking at him with amusement. 

“I’m sure, don’t worry. If it comes to it, I’ll get Zhengting to take me home.” 

_“Make sure he’s sober enough to drive,”_ Yanjun’s voice cuts in.

“Got it.” 

It’s another minute of reminders to stay safe before Linong ends the call and sets his phone face down on the counter. Then, all three of them burst into laughter. 

“So did our plan work, or didn’t it?” Zhengting asks. 

Linong downs the rest of his drink in one gulp. “If it was like having overprotective roommates before, it’s like having overprotective _parents_ now.”

Xukun's tone is dry. "I take that to mean it _didn't_."


End file.
